Special Early Bird Pricing for 2017 Legal Specialization Exam
The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization invites you to register for the 2017 legal specialist examination by May 1 to take advantage of the special exam fee of $100. This fee increases on May 2 to $250 and on Sept. 2 to $350. This one-day examination will be given on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017. The examination will not be offered again until 2019, so why wait to earn your board certification? Registration closes on Oct. 2, 2017.

Attorneys can earn their certification in the following areas: Admiralty and Maritime Law, Appellate Law, Bankruptcy Law, Criminal Law, Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law, Family Law, Franchise and Distribution Law, Immigration and Nationality Law, Legal Malpractice Law, Taxation Law and Workers’ Compensation Law.

The bar offers free preparation packets on its website to help attorneys gauge how much study is needed. For more information, see the California Board of Legal Specialization (CBLS) web page.

April 11, 2017

The Honorable Hannah-Beth Jackson

Chair, Senate Committee on Judiciary

State Capitol, Room 2187

Sacramento, CA 95814

Re:      SB 244 (Lara): Privacy: agencies: personal information. – SUPPORT

Dear Senator Jackson:

The California Chapters of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) are pleased to support Senate Bill 244 (Lara). The California Chapters of AILA include the Northern California Chapter, Southern California Chapter, Santa Clara Valley Chapter and San Diego Chapter.   Together, we have more than 2500 attorney members in the state of California.

SB 244 will protect individual privacy and promote “good government” principles by prohibiting state and local agencies from collecting and recording personal information, or disclosing records containing personal information, for purposes not directly related to the administration of public services and programs.

California has made great strides in the past 15 years in celebrating and valuing the presence of diverse immigrant communities within the state.  In recognition of this value, California has worked to ensure that all residents have access to critical services and can contribute to and participate fully in our economy by obtaining professional or business licenses, driver’s licenses, financial aid, and health care for their children.

SB 244 aligns with California’s longstanding history of protecting personal privacy rights.  SB 244 ensures that all residents, regardless of religion, health condition, gender, gender identity, citizenship, immigration status or status as a survivor of crime, know that information they provide to government agencies is confidential.  This is critical to the success of state and local programs that maintain public health and safety. The National Bureau of Economic Research has found, for example, that concerns about heightened immigration enforcement reduce Medicaid participation by young children of noncitizens.[1]  Similar concerns have affected access to other programs.  Eisner Health, a Los Angeles area provider to low-income Latino residents, has reported a recent 20 percent drop in food stamp applications and an 80 percent drop in My Health LA, a program intended to serve indigent adults.[2]  Educators across the nation have reported increased absences in school since President Trump’s immigration enforcement actions commenced.[3]  In addition, crime survivors, including survivors of sexual assault,[4] have been afraid to report crimes.[5]

SB 244 addresses some of these concerns by ensuring that government agencies can fulfill their programmatic missions and protect the personal information of their program applicants and recipients to the greatest degree allowed by law.

For these reasons, the California Chapters of AILA strongly support SB 244.

Sincerely,

Olivia Lee, Chair

Northern California Chapter

American Immigration Lawyers Association

Maggie Castillo, Chair

Southern California Chapter

American Immigration Lawyers Association

Andrew Nietor, Chair

San Diego Chapter

American Immigration Lawyers Association

Nicole Abramowitz Weber, Chair

Santa Clara Valley Chapter

American Immigration Lawyers Association

[1]  The National Bureau of Economic Research, Inside the Refrigerator: Immigration Enforcement and Chilling Effects in Medicaid Participation, (Aug. 2010), available at http://www.nber.org/papers/w16278.

[2]  The Atlantic, Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Policies Are Scaring Eligible Families Away From the Safety Net (Mar. 2017) available at https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/03/trump-safety-net-latino-families/520779/.

[3]  The74million.org, Claiming Sanctuary, Inside the Schools now Actively Resisting President Trump’s Immigration Crackdown (Mar 2017) available at https://www.the74million.org/article/claiming-sanctuary-inside-the-schools-now-actively-resisting-president-trumps-immigration-crackdown.

[4] See Los Angeles Times, Latinos are reporting fewer sexual assaults amid a climate of fear in immigrant communities, LAPD says (Mar. 21, 2017), available at http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-immigrant-crime-reporting-drops-20170321-story.html.

[5] See Mother Jones, Immigrants Fear a Choice Between Domestic Violence and Deportation (Mar. 20, 2017), available at

 http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/03/ice-dhs-immigration-domestic-violence-protections; The Guardian, Fearing deportation, undocumented immigrants wary of reporting crimes (Mar. 23, 2017), available at

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/23/undocumented-immigrants-wary-report-crimes-deportation

National Public Radio, Fear Of Deportation Spurs 4 Women To Drop Domestic Abuse Cases In Denver (Mar. 21, 2017), available at http://www.npr.org/2017/03/21/520841332/fear-of-deportation-spurs-4-women-to-drop-domestic-abuse-cases-in-denver.

Habeas Hearing 4/3 @ 2pm: Help us Pack the Court!

Habeas hearing for mother of 3 minors, detained by ICE for over 1 year and denied bond by the immigration judge: come help us pack the courtroom!  #FreeYazmin

Date: Monday, 4/3

Time: 2pm

Place: 450 Golden Gate Ave., 19th Floor, Courtroom 12

Before: Judge William H. Orrick, III

San Francisco Board of Supervisors 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place City Hall, Room 244 San Francisco, CA 94102-4689 via email: Board.of.Supervisors@sfgov.org Dear San Francisco Board of Supervisors, The 91 below-signed members of FREE-SF, the San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative (SFILDC), the San Francisco Immigrant Legal and Education Network (SFILEN), and other community groups, professional associations, and agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area urge you to take further action to protect the most vulnerable immigrants in our community: those who are detained and denied access to counsel. Community-based organizations (CBOs) would like to partner with the Public Defender (PD) based on a well-deliberated plan to meet the need for both, detained and non-detained immigrants. In 2016, CBOs reached out to the PD to discuss the significant gap in access to counsel for detained immigrants. The CBOs agreed that our strength was in representing nondetained immigrants, given SFILDC’s focus and excellent performance in this area. The PD agreed that its expertise was in providing high volume, high quality services for those whose liberty is at risk, individuals in detention. The PD already houses one of San Francisco’s first city-funded deportation and detention defense attorneys (Francisco Ugarte) who built the first immigration defense program for our city. After months of discussions and deliberations, the PD agreed to help by building a program for detained immigrants while the CBOs would focus on representing non-detained immigrants. CBOs and the PD mutually decided that such a division of labor and programs would be most beneficial to the community based on our capacities and expertise. The CBOs do not have the capacity of the PD to scale at the level that is needed for the detained population before the San Francisco Immigration Court. Of the 21 SFILDC and SFILEN organizations providing services to immigrants, only three are able to provide detained representation. While these three organizations are hiring one new attorney each for detention representation, this is only a stop-gap measure. Given the existing need for over 1,500 detainees, as well as the anticipated increase in detentions, there is a major gap in representation for detained immigrants. In addition, this is a significant organizational commitment and burden on our infrastructures as the CBOs each only house 3-8 total immigration attorneys at our nonprofits. We do not have the capacity to hire and train the additional attorneys and support staff that our city needs. However, the PD, with over 90 defense attorneys, has the capacity to hire the needed 9 attorneys with 6 support staff, to build an effective and much-needed immigration detention representation program. Housing the detained representation program at the PD’s office provides political advantages. Public defenders as government agents may have advantages and better channels of Page 2 of 3 communication when working with other government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. Providing immigrant defense through a city agency as opposed to CBOs therefore creates a more level playing field that is between government agencies. The Department of Homeland Security released new anti-immigration directives in the last week, criminalizing broad classes of immigrants and their families, increasing arrests and detentions, and expediting deportations. These directives communicate a greater urgency than ever before to ensure that detainees processed through the San Francisco Immigration Court have legal representation. CBOs and advocates would like to see a long-term commitment to the detained immigrant community. We believe that just as the federal government funds the Department of Homeland Security to detain and prosecute immigrants, our community is entitled to a public defense in all matters relating to detention or imprisonment. Funding through a city agency such as the PD demonstrates a long-term commitment and safety net for our community. In the long-term, we believe that all immigrants in detention and deportation proceedings will be afforded a right to counsel through a federal program. An agency like the PD that has already led the way in a similar fashion for criminal defendants has the historical and institutional advantage to be able to successfully roll out such a plan. Prior to the landmark Supreme Court case, Gideon v. Wainwright, which afforded a right to an attorney for all criminal defendants, cities and counties supported access to counsel and a defense against unjust prosecution. While immigration proceedings are a civil and administrative matter, immigrants’ liberty, safety, and freedom are at stake. We urge the city of San Francisco to lead the way toward the creation of a federal program to provide representation for all detained immigrants. We are grateful for the funding that you approved for the 21 SFILDC and SFILEN organizations to provide much-needed services to our community focusing on non-detained immigration services. We now also urge you to consider the families and individuals that were not fully funded: the detained immigrants.

Dear CRS community,

We are thrilled to invite you to our Ninth Annual Critical Race Studies Symposium, From Colorblindness to White Nationalism: Emerging Racial Formations in the Trump Era.  The symposium will take place on Friday March 3rd, 2017 at the California Nanosystems Institute on the UCLA campus.

Please visit our site to register and to find parking and travel information, as well as our program.  Note that UCLA School of Law is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider, and a request for approval of MCLE credit is pending.

We look forward to seeing you on March 3rd.

Resisting Mass Deportation: A Community Forum

San Francisco Public Defender’s Office

Wednesday, February 22, 2017 from 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM (PST)

San Francisco, CA

No family should be torn apart because they can’t afford an attorney. Learn how San Francisco can provide lawyers to help immigrants fight deportation and how YOU can help.

Further information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbcOH71zci8

Speakers:

• Danny Glover, actor, director, and activist
• Dana Leigh Marks, president, National Association of Immigration Judges
• Beto Martinez Nolasco, formerly detained immigrant

The forum is selling out! Register now!

Location:

Koret Auditorium: San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street (Enter at 30 Grove St.)
San Francisco, CA 94102

Event sponsors include:

San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, Pangea Legal Services, La Raza Centro Legal, Tahirh Justice Center, Asian Law Caucus, CARECEN, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, Bar Association of San Francisco, Legal Services for Children, African Advocacy Network, Dolores Street Community Services, ACLU of Northern California, San Francisco Supervisor Hillary Ronen, Asian American Criminal Trial Lawyers Association, National Lawyers Guild San Francisco/Bay Area Chapter, Charles Houston Bar Association, Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, Public Defenders for Racial Justice, East Bay La Raza Lawyers, San Mateo County Bar Association, Iranian Bar Association Northern California Chapter, San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association, Alameda County Bar Association, South Asian Bar Association of Northern California,  Filipino Bar Association of Northern California, Asian Pacific Bar Association of Silicon Valley, California Bar Foundation, Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist, San Francisco Latino Democratic Club, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, American Immigration Lawyers Association Northern California Chapter